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Ground Beef, Italian Sausage, and Peppers Meatloaf Balls

These Individual-Serving Meatloaf Balls with Italian Sausage, Ground Beef, and Peppers were a fun take on regular meatloaf!

If anyone is scratching their head over a recipe named Ground Beef, Italian Sausage, and Peppers Meatloaf Balls, let me start by telling you how I came up with Meatloaf Balls in the recipe title. A while ago, I happened to see a site where a famous food personality (who shall not be named!) was touting the idea of meatloaf cooked in muffin tins. I loved the idea, which sounded perfect for any house where some family members want different ingredients in their meatloaf than others.

I tried the meatloaf cooked in muffin tins, and (putting it as nicely as I can) it was horrible. All the fat from the meat collected in the bottom of the muffin tins, and the sides of the mini-meatloaves didn't brown. I still liked the idea of individual meatloaves though, so I tried again, making the meatloaf mixture into large balls that I flattened down slightly when I cooked them. Voila, meatloaf balls! And if you have kids in the family who won't eat red or green pepper, this recipe is a perfect one to divide into two variations to please the whole family.

Remove the ground beef and sweet Italian sausage from the fridge and break apart into a bowl, then let it come to room temperature while you chop and saute the vegetables. (If you're adapting the recipe to please different members of the family, I'd put the meat into two bowls.)

Since the meatloaf balls cook much more quickly than meatloaf, I sauteed the onion, red pepper, and green pepper before I added it to the meat.

When the vegetables are starting to soften, add minced garlic, dried fennel, dried oregano, and dried basil and saute a few minutes more.

While vegetables are cooling, I added breadcrumbs, salt and pepper, Spike seasoning, onion powder and garlic powder to the meat. (I'm a bit of a fanatic about sprinkling these dry ingredients over the surface of the meat so they'll get evenly distributed in the mixture.) Wash hands, then begin to mix the seasonings into the meat with your hands.

Then add cooled onion-pepper mixture and 2 eggs to the bowl with the meat mixture, and mix a bit more with your hands. (Only mix as much as you need to to get the ingredients well-combined, because over-mixing makes tough meatloaf.)

Here's how the meatloaf should look once all the ingredients are well mixed.

For years I've used this kind of roasting try to cook meatloaf, because the holes allow the fat to drain down into a tray, keeping the fat away from the meat. I buy these roasting pans at thrift shops, and I have a good collection of them!

I used a 1 cup measuring cup to scoop out the meat and ended up with 9 large meatloaf balls.

I made a mixture of reduced-sugar ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and a touch of balsamic vinegar to brush on the meatloaf balls.

I brushed this mixture on the meatloaf balls, and I tried to brush it on so it completely covered the top and down the sides. I basted once more with the extra sauce while the meatloaf balls were cooking too.

Sprinkle bread crumbs, salt and pepper, Spike seasoning, onion powder, and garlic powder evenly over the surface of the meat. Wash your hands, then gently mix until seasonings are barely combined with the meat. (You'll be mixing more when you add vegetables.) Add the cooled onion-pepper mixture and eggs, and mix again, until all ingredients are well distributed. (Don't overmix because that will make the meatloaf tough.)

Spray a roasting pan with olive oil or non-stick spray (preferably with holes so fat can drain.) Use a 1 cup measure to scoop out meatloaf mixture and form into balls, then smash down slightly so they stay in place on the roasting pan. Whisk together ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and balsamic vinegar and use a pastry brush to spread evenly over all the surfaces of meatloaf balls. (You will probably have some of the sauce mixture left, which you can use to baste with.)

Bake meatloaf balls 35-40 minutes, or until meat thermometer registers at least 165F/75C. I rotated the pan and basted with the remaining sauce after about 20 minutes. Serve hot, cutting in half if desired.

These can also be sliced and served on sandwiches. The meatloaf balls freeze well and can be heated in the microwave, but don't overcook or the meat will be tough.

There is a lot of meat and peppers here compared to the small amount of breadcrumbs, so although this recipe isn't strictly low-carb, I think it's suitable for low-glycemic and most low-carb eating plans, especially if you make sure to use low-sugar ketchup. Made with low-fat ground beef, turkey Italian sausage, and whole wheat bread crumbs, this would be suitable for phase 2 or 3 of the South Beach Diet.

I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you. Or if you're a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.

More Ideas for Meat Loaf:
(Recipes from other blogs may not always be South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients.)

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This is a great post. I'm glad to hear about the muffin pan problem. I thought that sounded like a good idea also.

Meatloaf is on my list of things to make this weekend and I'm going to use your method. I'm hoping I can find the draining roast pan sheet today. We've got 25 inches of snow in Denver, so my travel is limited.

Meatloaf is a hard sell in this house, which is a bummer since I happen to like it. I love the individual servings - that way I can make it and freeze some for whenever I want it. To heck with the rest of them! ;)

I use oatmeal as my filler and bake in a silicone muffin pan; they brown. I use 93% lean and there is almost no fat. Freeze 4 to a qt ziplock bag. OK to slice for a sandwich and this is my way of cooking for one. Of course, TJ turkey (they have beef too) frozen are also in the freezer!

Make the meatballs without onion and seasonings and use in chicken stock for Asian hot pot. That's what I do with TJ, add rice-soba noodles or the tofu ones with no carbs. Asian seasonings, a few slivers of whatever ; let each person choose from carrots, g onion, green peas and so on. Better than ramen any day. Good way to recycle left overs too.

I, too, had tried the recipe from She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, and was underwhelmed. THIS is a great idea!

And the idea of using almond meal? Ingenious. I have to admit I've been experimenting with gluten-free substitute for breadcrumbs for a while, and I never found anything I loved. Plus, lower glycemic index, right?

Anne, chuckling here. She-who-shall-not-be-named deserves more credit than some people give her, but not for that idea. I haven't used almond meal in meatloaf, but Elana from Elana's Pantry assures me it will work just great (she has a recipe for turkey meatloaf in her book that uses almond flour.)

Aleese, I prefer Penzeys Turkey Base, but the Better Than Bouillon turkey base is also not bad. I wouldn't say either of these is a product that's bad or good for the South Beach diet, they're just something to make turkey gravy more flavorful without adding a lot of fat.

I just found your blog and am so excited to have a source for healthy recipes!! This is great! Thank you! I particularly related to the meatloaf balls since I've been making my meatloaf in mini-loaf pans for quite some time... definitely helps if you have a picky eater or two, and the mini loaf slices are cute on a plate!

Hi Kalyn! I was in a meatloaf mood today and had some whole wheat breadcrumbs in the pantry, so I searched your site and found this recipe. I made them tonight with a few modifications and they came out FABULOUSLY!!!!

Thanks so much! (Mine took a looong time to be done, 55-60 minutes. I kept stabbing the poor guys with a thermometer because I'm paranoid of getting sick. But they were worth every minute!

I'll post the modification on my blog soon with a link back to you as the original :)

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